Kendrick Lamar "respects" Nicki Minaj for abstaining from performing at Hot 97's Summer Jam after station host Peter Rosenberg critiqued some of her records as not being real hip-hop. “I’d be hot. She got all the right reasons to do what she did. I respect that" Kendrick told NYC's Power 105.1's Breakfast Club. Kendrick says that his version of real hip-hop is "anything that expresses yourself" but "I’d probably still have performed though. I’da performed for sure.”

Rosenberg's dis occurred right before Kendrick's set. On Monday (6/4), Nicki and Funkmaster Flex of Hot 97 had a lengthy back-and-forth about the incident. During their heated discussion, which opened with Flex admitting that they’d already been arguing for an hour, Nicki Minaj said Rosenberg chose the wrong time and place to voice his negative opinions. “It’s not about his opinion, because I have opinions about DJs on Hot 97 and I have opinions on Hot 97,” she said. “But when it’s about us uniting people [for] your show, I wouldn’t dare come on your stage and say something negative about Hot 97, leading up to that concert.”

Rapper Nas also gave Nicki his support to Nicki in a recent interview with Rap-Up. "I’ve been there before and things like that happen every couple of years. I guess this is the second time something has happened like that between the artist and the radio station. We don’t always agree and the nature of hip-hop can be aggressive and get real gangsta on you now and then. That’s just what it is. These things happen."

Nas has his own checkered history with Hot 97. In 2001, Jay-Z unveiled "The Takeover" against Nas and when the "Daughters" rapper planned to figuratively bury Jay onstage in retaliation the next year, the station declined the stunt. Subsequently, Nas refused to show up for his set and blasted Hot 97 for their lack of support and bias towards Jay. 2012 marked Nas' surprise return to Summer Jam.